HRBL
by AliceSaphir
Summary: Following Team HRBL , an all Faunus team, a year before the start of RWBY as they train to be Hunters and Huntresses. Team HRBL belongs to myself Mentions of Team CFVY and other cannon charaters


The faint vibration of the airship beneath the feet of the faunus set the girl on edge. The girl was visibly distressed , her tail was down and she stood with her hands balled into fists. For some reason, flying under something else's power made her feel out of control. Beacon Academy was coming into sight, and around her, Hotaru could hear the murmurs of the other students. She had to admit, the big communications tower was an impressive sight to behold, with the large academy and the cliff serving as an awe inspiring backdrop.

Clinging above everyone on one of the airship pipes ignoring the people below him was a rather lanky young man. He was hanging in a position that was reminiscent of a sloth and with every rock of the ship, be it subtle or pronounced, he rocked as well but never fell or loosened his grip.

The young man had a detached and tired expression, on a face that would be attractive if he expressed emotions more openly. There was this sweet and oddly calming scent in the air that reminded him of something. With a dull curiosity , he horizontally climbed his way towards the scent. A flurry of questions swarmed his thoughts as he continued to absentmindedly follow the familiar scent.

' _What's with this smell. Why can I not place it,'_ He questioned himself.

The scent became stronger. His eyes scanned the view below him, trying to pin-point where the scent was coming from. Due to his attention being entirely focused at finding the owner of the scent, the sleeve to his sweater became caught on a loose screw and he tried to untangle it before he ripped his sweater or broke something in the let of one of the rails and stayed clinging using just his legs. He managed to unhook his sleeve, but not before his legs started slipping.

He realized his predicament a bit too late as a bit of turbulence caught him off guard and fell onto the airsick Faunus girl. The wolf Faunus looked up just in time to see him crash land on top of her.

The loud 'thud' was accompanied by a mess of limbs on the floor, it didn't help that the boy was nearly twice her size. She opened her eyes to a tall, but surprisingly light boy laying on top of her. The airsickness was forgotten as the stranger was sniffing the air around them .She pushed herself into a sitting position, bewilderment and irritation written on her face.

' _Ah, so the scent is coming from her, She smells like the forests from where I trained. Nothing like Atlas'._ Raon thought.

' _I really don't feel like moving'_

Hotaru ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make sense of the situation. The boy looked human, Wearing an oversized sweater and denim pants.

"We've arrived at Beacon, will all faculty and guests head towards the nearest exit in an orderly fashion," A rehearsed voice announced. The other occupants began leaving the ship, ignoring the strange pair on the floor.

Hotaru sat in bewildered silence until the ship came to a stop. " Excuse me." she said gently shaking the boy, "Can you get off of me? We are the last ones on the ship".

The boy slowly stood up, and Hotaru escaped out from under him as fast as sure her swords were soundly in the sheaths on her lower back , walked off of the ship and onto solid land leaving the red haired boy behind her. She followed the other students to the commons area.

He made his way off the ship and towards the crowd of students making his way to the area where the other students were gathering

The commons area was crowded with humans and some Faunus , chatting among themselves. A man stepped onto the stage they were all crowded around, wearing a dark suit with a green scarf. Everyone in the area recognized Headmaster Ozpin and the area fell silent, waiting for him to speak.

"I'll keep this brief .You have traveled here in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished ,you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people.  
But I look amongst you all, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose... Direction .You assume knowledge will free you of this.  
But your time at this academy will show you that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin stepped off of the stage and Glinda stepped up to the mic. "You will all be spending the night in the ballroom. Initiation will begin in the morning. Please be ready for that. ".

That night, the sloth boy found Hotaru. She was messing around with her bullets, trying to find a good order to put them in. The different coloured tips made them easy to tell apart. Behind her, a sudden voice spoke , " You use Dust bullets?"

Her heart jumped, she hadn't sensed him come up behind her. She looked back at the owner of the voice, surprised by who she saw. It was the sloth boy, the creep who fell on top of her on sniffed her without saying a word. Hotaru didn't think someone who seemed so lazy could have such a clear voice. It was a smooth baritone, and he spoke with a clear Atlas accent.

"Wouldn't it be more of a surprise for me not to? Black Powder isn't exactly a reliable propellant."

"That's true," he replied, "No one puts any effort into developing it because we have Dust. It's far more effective and has a wider variety of uses and elements, not just explosive."

He was looking at the variety of Dust and containers she had spread out before her. He picked up a blue crystal and peered at it closely, tiling his head while he talked. Sliding the magazine into the hilt of her one of her swords, it locked in place with an audible click. She took the crystal back from the boy and placed it back into the neatly organized rows in front of her. " I am Hotaru Aoki. Just call me Aoki."

He bowed his head politely "Roan Atwood , "

She continued to check her weapons and her dust. She pulled out two items that looked like a double sided gun magazine, around 6 inches long. With the utmost care, she filled one with wind and ice Dust , and the other with fire and earth powdered dust. Once the gages on the sides were lit up and colour full, everything was put away. She stood up ignoring Roan and walked to the lockers. Hopefully by putting everything away and taking a while Roan would be gone.

It seemed to be the opposite. He had made a nest next to her items and was already curled up in it. Sighing, Hotaru's tail sagged as she resigned to being stuck with the the oversized child for the rest of the night. All of his previous energy seemed to be gone.

' _Maybe he's only like that when he talks about Dust'_ She mused to herself. ' _What an odd guy. He seems lazy, but he must be decent at fighting if he got into here'._

The morning came quickly, the light peaking through the windows in the ballroom. It was still early, and around two thirds of the students were still asleep. Hotaru pulled herself up, she was tired, unused to sleeping near so many people. A quick glance to the side showed that Roan Atwood, the boy from the night before had slept surprising close to her, and was still curled into a ball, sleeping. Leaving him there, she made her way to the bathrooms, washing her face and brushing her hair out. She twisted around, Brushing her bushy tail out as well, making sure it was smooth and not shedding overly much. Pulling her gray hair into a ponytail, she quickly changed into her fighting clothes. The corset vest she wore seemed at first impractical, but it didn't restrict her movement like it seemed it would , and the ribbing in it served as a sort of amour. She didn't want to put on her boots yet, so she made her way back to the ballroom in just the black stockings she wore, the combat boots held loosely in her hand. When she got back, most of the students were waking up, and the room was filled with tired voices and the sounds of scrolls sounding alarms. She quickly packed up the sleeping bag and her small bag of personal belongings and sat to wait for the time to leave.

Roan woke up with a start when his scroll started beeping. He reached to the side and shut off the alarm, Sitting up. His hair was messier than usual,pushed back away from his face, showing his face more than normal. He Idly combed it back down, pulling it down around his face. He had slept in the same clothes he always wore, so he had nothing to do to get ready. Hotaru Aoki, the small wolf Faunus who smelt like the forest , was already up and ready, waiting for it to be time to leave. She didn't have any of her weapons on her, but the loose fitting jacket she wore had been removed and showed off very short shorts and her fluffy wolf's tail. She looked well put together, and rather bored, not like some of the students who were nervous about initiation. It was the complete opposite of him, rather the complete opposite of who he was now, not who he was in the past. Roans loose fitting hoodie hid all of his weapons, so it looked like he was always unarmed, even to the trained, eye but also made him look far less threatening than he actually was. It even hid his own tiny tail, the small sloths tail hidden from sight and made him look like a human. A sloppy and disheveled human.

Boredom overcoming him, He slipped back into the half asleep state he was almost always in, seemingly asleep, but perfectly aware of his surroundings. The half form of conscious was drilled into him from a young age, and even though they were in the middle of beacon, and perfectly safe, the ability to be fully asleep eluded him.

Eventually the time to arm up came, and he followed Aoki - He wondered why she wanted to be called by her last name- to the lockers. By some coincidence, his was near to hers, and he kept her in the corner of his eye as he grabbed his things out of the locker. He unzipped his hoodie, grabbing a shoulder holder and strapped a Military knife upside on his back. He laced his vambraces to his forearms, making sure the Hidden Claw blades were calibrated correctly and then attached a pouch full of dust crystals and vials to his belt. All done relatively quickly, he zipped his hoodie back up and hiding all of his weapons.

Behind him he could hear a someone chattering loudly, and he turned to look and listen to their conversation.

"So I hear we will be put into teams! I wonder who we will be with?"

"What makes you think that we will be on the same team?"

"Its Fate!" The chirpy voice came from a midget, a girl who didn't even surpass 5 feet.

"I don't believe in fate" The even , quiet voice came from an androgynous mouse faunus carrying a huge rifle with a bayonet attached to the end.

They moved away as Roan closed his locker. He made his way out to Beacon Cliff, and waited for Ozpin to show up.


End file.
